Frederick church will break ground Sunday on new sanctuary

By Magdalena WegrzynLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
07/27/2012 09:36:58 PM MDT

Updated:
07/27/2012 09:39:21 PM MDT

St. Brigit Episcopal Church in Frederick will break ground on its new sanctuary on Sunday. The church will use reclaimed wood (above) on the sanctuary's interior. The new 150-seat sanctuary (bottom right) will be connected via a breezeway to the former sanctuary (bottom left), which will be turned into classrooms and bathrooms. (Photo Illustration/Greg Lindstrom/Times-Call)
(
Greg Lindstrom
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What: St. Brigit Episcopal Church groundbreaking ceremony for new sanctuary

FREDERICK -- St. Brigit Episcopal Church in Frederick will break ground Sunday on a 2,500-square-foot sanctuary.

The new building, which the congregation hopes to finish by Christmas, can seat up to 150 people and will replace the former sanctuary, a 1,000-square-foot, remodeled four-car garage that could accommodate 65 worshipers. That space will be turned into two classrooms and bathrooms, which will connect via a breezeway to the new sanctuary.

St. Brigit's, which held its first service in February 2009, has grown steadily from about eight families to 90 members, said the church's pastor, the Rev. Felicia SmithGraybeal. A typical Sunday brings about 60 people to the church plant, which sits on a 7-acre plot on the northeast corner of Frederick's Johnson and First streets.

SmithGraybeal anticipates that the contractors will wrap up their portion of the construction within six weeks of groundbreaking, and the remainder of the work -- hanging fixtures, painting and basic plumbing -- will be done by the congregation, both to save money and as a form of fellowship.

"The process that leads to the end product is just as important as the end product," she said.

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To go with the campus' rustic feel -- the church office is a 90-year-old farmhouse, after all -- the interior walls will be finished with reclaimed lumber. A barn door will mark the entry from the breezeway into the new sanctuary.

On the floor of the new sanctuary, parishioners plan to paint a labyrinth for indoor meditation. In November, the church completed an outdoor labyrinth, with a 44-foot diameter, east of the sanctuary.

The entire project, which got the final OK when the town of Frederick approved the church's site plan earlier this month, will cost an estimated $170,000. It marks the first phase of the church's long-term master plan, which includes a 4,500-square-foot sanctuary and a courtyard.

Because St. Brigit's is not entirely independent -- the church still receives financial support from its diocese -- it was not permitted to take out a bank loan to finance its new sanctuary. SmithGraybeal said she knew that many of the revenue streams churches have traditionally relied on to expand have dried up, so she opted for a different approach.

"One of the benefits of being a church plant is people think creatively. ... There's not that, 'We've always done it this way.' People are open to new ideas," she said.

So last year, a community garden the church had started on northwest edge of its property became a separate, secular nonprofit, called Brigit's Bounty Community Resources, which provides gardening opportunities and education for Carbon Valley residents. The organization hosted a packed summer camp on gardening this year for area children.

The nonprofit will host classes and events in the church's new classrooms, and the goal is for Brigit's Bounty Community Resources to fund the $35,000 remodel of the old sanctuary, SmithGraybeal said.

That new space also will be available for other community groups to use, dovetailing with the church's outward focus.

"We knew we wanted to be a church that's involved in the community," SmithGraybeal said. "We didn't just want them to come to us; we want to go out there."

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